blizeH Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Hi, A couple of years ago I helped a friend find (what I thought to be) a decent second-hand laptop, a Dell Inspiron 1545. It's been fine, but last night he returned to his computer to find it had froze, and there were weird lines across the screen. He held the power button to turn it off, and went to turn it on again, but despite the power light coming on nothing happens (no keyboard lights, no beep, no fans, nothing) Can anyone please make any suggestions on what the problem could be, or how to fix it? I'm unsure what to suggest other than simply take it to a PC repair store, or buy a new one. I'm thinking it's maybe the motherboard, or the RAM, but have no real easy way of testing that. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detection Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Remove Charger Lead > Take the battery out > press power button for 30 seconds > Replace Battery > Power On. If nothing, is the charger working? Next step remove one stick of RAM and try each stick on its own. After that, if you don't have any other RAM to test with, either get some, or throw it in the cupboard for parts, if the board is dead it will cost more to replace than the laptop is worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybertimber2008 Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 No lights to me means it's something beyond a simple RAM or Hard disk drive issue. Try the power/battery pull as Detection suggested, but if that fails I'd call it a dead system. Could be a bad capacitor inside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blizeH Posted November 3, 2011 Author Share Posted November 3, 2011 Ah that's brilliant, thank you guys - will suggest that to him later, fingers crossed! Otherwise I think you're right, it could be best to put the money towards a replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chconline Veteran Posted November 4, 2011 Veteran Share Posted November 4, 2011 Yep, exactly. That's what I would have done -- first remove the battery, then try to power it on via AC. If that doesn't work, reseat RAM etc one by one. I've solved numerous laptop not starting issues like that. blizeH 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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